AuthorTopic: Rand McNally Road Atlas oddities (Read 9107 times)

Here's a good topic to talk about. There are several odd things that the RM Road Atlas seems to note that are inaccurate. examples:

There is a freeway bypass around Nashua NH that was noted as "Under Construction" for decades. But is it really even there?

A stretch of WIS 17 near Rhinelander is noted as Multilane divided - though it's been forever two-lane

part of US 151 between Dickeyville and Platteville, WI is noted as two-lane. It's been four-lane since 2005

Lettered highways (Missouri supplemental and WIS CTHs) have always been noted specifically as "County Trunk Highways" in the general legend, contradicting the Missouri purpose (and why don't these fall into the blanket rectangular notation since several county and secondary routes have letters involved.

What else is there?

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Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!As a matter of fact, I do own the road.Raise your what?

There is a freeway bypass around Nashua NH that was noted as "Under Construction" for decades. But is it really even there?

Can't really think of any oddities save this one, which is the first thing that popped into my head reading the thread title. That damn beltway is already shown as "proposed" in the oldest RMcN I have, and that one's from 1979! 3 decades of not making it past planning stage, halleluja .

And the only part that is there is around 1 mile of the "Circumferential Highway" linking US-3 with Lowell road, with an interchange Daniel Webster Highway. But IIRC, that part has been that way since at least 2 decades already as well...

I haven't seen a 2009 version, but they used to always used to mess up around downtown St. Louis. First they would show a ramp from EB I-44 to Lafayette Avenue that was supposed to be built for MO 755, but the actual design has the ramp sharing the bridge over WB I-44 with the Lafayette (now SB Truman) ramp to SB I-55. In addition, they have the various levels of the I-44/I-55 interchange wrong. The second major error around downtown St. Louis involves the partially constructed interchange for US 40 and MO 755. They don't show the ramp from what would have been SB MO 755 to EB US 40, nor the ramp from WB US 40 to Market Street. They do show how the completed MO 755/Chestnut Street/Pine Street interchange would have looked, a phantom EB US 40 to SB 755 ramp, a phantom NB 755 to WB US 40 ramp, and viaducts for 755 extending south of US 40 across the railyards that end at Gratiot Street.

Then there are the freeways shown in outstate Missouri that aren't quite freeway grade, which if I remember right, were US 24/US 61 through Palmyra (on MoDOT's wishlist), US 54 around Fulton (almost but has a couple driveways), US 67 around the Park Hills/Farmington Area (currently being upgraded from expressway grade with stoplights), and part of the MO 32 bypass for Park Hills (has a few stoplights at the US 67 interchange). They also had the MO 141 freeway extending too far south of US 40 in some editions. Then there are a couple of freeways in Missouri they don't show, such as US 61 around La Grange and Canton, and the MO 21/Blood Alley replacement freeway.

My gripe with the Rand McNally atlas is that Ohio's cities just never get enough love. Cleveland now shows as a 'metro area,' but the map isn't any larger.

And the shift after '92 when they changed to the new style of symbols did knock down a number of city insets to not show nearly as much detail...something that still hasn't been fixed (Philly, Pittsburgh, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta the ones I can think of off-hand).

I'm baffled by some of the insets - almost all of the National Park map insets show a smaller image than the main map would show. Before they reduced CT to a single page, the city maps in the insets would be smaller than on the main map.

Here are a few oddities I've noticed over the years which are still shown in the 2009 version:

In the Mobile, Alabama inset shows what should be U.S. 90 as ALT 90 over Bay Bridge Road. And on a side note the field even has it mis-signed as TRUCK U.S. 90.

In the Lakeland / Winter Haven, Florida inset and on the Florida page RMcN still shows U.S. 27A going south from Haines City through Frostproof. This has been decommissioned since 1998 and replaced with Florida 17.

Also in Florida, U.S. 98 is still shown on its former alignment between Canal Point and its intersection with U.S. 441 west of Loxahatchee. U.S. 98 was syphoned onto U.S. 441 in 2006 though it was not officially signed until recently.

I'm baffled by some of the insets - almost all of the National Park map insets show a smaller image than the main map would show. Before they reduced CT to a single page, the city maps in the insets would be smaller than on the main map.

The I-35W bridge thing and the lack of I-795 on the NC page is because Rand decided to rush production last year, issuing the atlas in April intsead of the usual August or September. Based upon this shorter research period, I never bothered to buy a 2009 Rand.

I'm baffled by some of the insets - almost all of the National Park map insets show a smaller image than the main map would show. Before they reduced CT to a single page, the city maps in the insets would be smaller than on the main map.

The I-35W bridge thing and the lack of I-795 on the NC page is because Rand decided to rush production last year, issuing the atlas in April intsead of the usual August or September. Based upon this shorter research period, I never bothered to buy a 2009 Rand.

Yes, I did buy one and it was indeed in April. I was walking through the automotive section at my local Wal-Mart and stumbled across the 2009 RMcN atlas. I had to do a double-take as normally the new road atlas came out in late September or early October. This was the first time I had ever encountered this. I did purchase it even though it did not show roads such as the new I-795 in NC as well as the I-35W bridge construction. They didn't even show the new TOLL Florida 414 under construction in the Apopka, Florida. Maybe they will show it as complete in the 2010 edition. Hopefully if they do come out early again this year they do better research. I don't want to see things like no I-795, I-40 still routed on Painter Blvd. when it has been routed back onto its original alignment, etc. And lets see if they have I-295 shields up on the eastern beltway around Jacksonville.

My 2004 Rand McNally (the most up-to-date I have with me) shows the section of old U.S. 90/old U.S. 11 over the Pearl River between Miss. and La. as open. While much of the route is drivable, the bridge was removed years ago.

Not related to specific roads, but my 1957 RMcN shows city centres in insets as small circles. Their symbol for traffic circles/roundabouts/rotaries was a circle the same size with thicker lines. If one isn't paying attention, every city centre looks like a traffic circle.

Part of the problem with Ohio cities getting inset love is that there are eight cities worthy of insets, and three of those are worthy of big metro area maps. With OH already divided into two halves, I guess they decided we've used our allotment of page space.

On the Dayton inset, at least three exit numbers (possibly more) along I-675 are wrong. The proper numbers are: 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26. I know without checking that 7 (8), 10 (11), and 13 (14) are shown incorrectly, and there may be others.

Rand McNally jumped the gun in 1992 when they showed the Mon-Fayette Expressway under construction between Uniontown and Brownsville, something that wouldn't begin for another 14 years. I have scans of both the 1992 and 2008 edition on that page showing the difference not only in the route but the classification of the highway.